One dead in new attack on Riyadh, Saudi airport, a day after Houthi strike kills 13

DUBAI/RIYADH - Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis claimed responsibility for a Saturday strike on Riyadh's international airport that killed 13 people and wounded more than 300, while Saudi authorities reported that people were injured in a new attack on the airport on Sunday.

Saudi-led coalition forces in Yemen said an unidentified projectile had targeted Riyadh's international airport Terminal 4 on Sunday, causing a fire. An unspecified number of people were injured, the Saudi civil aviation authority said, adding it was still assessing the damage.

The coalition forces also said Saudi air defenses had intercepted a cruise missile in the vicinity of King Khalid International Airport. They later added that a drone had been intercepted and destroyed in the country's Eastern Province.

The strikes have exposed vulnerabilities in Saudi defense capabilities as the kingdom wages an air campaign against the ​Houthis, who are fighting a ground war in Yemen against the Saudi-backed Yemeni government.

Footage released by Saudi state television of the Saturday attack on the Riyadh airport showed scores of religious pilgrims lined up at a gate as they prepared to travel to Islam's two holiest sites. A bright orange flash sent people running in panic, while parts of the roof appeared to cave in.

The airport was closed after the attack.

Houthis claim responsibility for other attacks

In a televised speech on Sunday, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree claimed responsibility for Saturday's attack and said the group had struck the airport in Dammam in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province and two facilities of Saudi oil giant Saudi Aramco.

The Saudi government's media office and Aramco did not respond to requests for comment.

The Saudi civil aviation authority confirmed the strike on Dammam's King Fahd International Airport late on Sunday, adding that "damage assessments and safety inspections of airport facilities are under way."

An eyewitness aboard a taxiing aircraft at Dammam told Reuters that around 8:30 p.m. (1730 GMT) on Sunday, they saw a projectile strike the tarmac beside several parked aircraft, causing a fire. The witness said the aircraft returned to the gate. Passengers disembarked and were told to leave.

Flight-tracking website Flightradar24 showed several delays and cancellations on Sunday for arrivals and departures at Dammam airport, the kingdom's third-largest.

The Houthis earlier on Sunday had ‌renewed their warning against ​using Saudi ​airports. "We urge everyone to take our warnings seriously, and Saudi Arabia bears responsibility for any failed interceptions," the group said.

Britain's embassy in Saudi Arabia in a post on X advised British citizens against all but essential travel to Jeddah, Dammam and all airports in the kingdom except the airport in Medina.

US aviation authorities issued a notice to US airlines to use caution while flying to or over the kingdom.

'Worse is yet to come,' Houthis warn

Saudi Arabia has recently stepped up its military involvement in Yemen, launching strikes against the Houthis and backing a government counteroffensive after the Houthis seized strategic territory along the Red Sea coast last month.

The Houthis said on Sunday that Saudi Arabia carried out 124 air strikes in Yemen in the past 24 hours. "Unless the Saudi enemy stops its aggression and interference in Yemen, worse is yet to come, God willing," Yemen's Houthi-run foreign ministry said in statements carried by Al Masirah television.

US President Donald Trump said on Saturday the United States was considering joining Saudi strikes on the Houthis in the conflict, a spillover from the wider war with Iran that the US and Israel launched in February.

In a post on Telegram, Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araqchi said he told his Saudi counterpart that Tehran was ready to help facilitate dialogue between Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

Energy conference still going ahead

A five-day conference of international energy organization WPC Energy opened as planned on Sunday at a convention center about 10 km (6 miles) from the Riyadh airport, the Saudi energy ministry said.

A ministerial meeting of the International Energy Forum also went ahead, according to a media advisory from the ministry. It was not clear which ministers attended.

Italy's energy minister, Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, whose country was co-hosting, had said on Friday he would participate remotely via video link.

German officials were trying to organize a return flight for economy minister Katherina Reiche. She was supposed to return to Berlin from Riyadh on Monday but the ministry said it appeared likely her flight would be unable to take off.

Separately, Saudi authorities announced that in-person classes at schools in Riyadh would be shifted to remote learning from Sunday until Thursday.

In Saturday's attack, the third on Riyadh's airport in a week, the dead included four Saudis while the remainder were foreign nationals, Saudi authorities said. India's embassy in Riyadh said on Sunday one of its citizens injured in the attack had died, adding to the initial death toll of 12.

Four people were killed in the two previous attacks on the airport earlier in the week. One attack also caused heavy damage to a Saudi commercial plane parked on the tarmac. —Reuters